Nearly 150 warned of threat to lives in loyalist feud

Nearly 150 people in Northern Ireland have been warned by police that their lives may be under threat from feuding loyalist paramilitaries.

The government's ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, said yesterday that the loyalist shooting war - in which the Ulster Volunteer Force intends to "wipe out" the smaller Loyalist Volunteer Force - involved the worst violence it had ever investigated. Ten men have been shot dead in feuding since Billy "King Rat" Wright and his associates were stood down by the UVF in 1996 after the sectarian murder of a Catholic taxi driver. Wright formed his own group, the LVF, and tension has festered ever since.

But this summer the rivalry erupted into a six-week murder spree across north and east Belfast. The IMC report published yesterday found that in July and August the UVF shot dead four men it perceived to have LVF connections, and attempted to murder 15 more.

Loyalist areas of Belfast were panicked over the summer as targets were attacked while sitting in cars or walking their dogs. One man had to jump from a bedroom window to avoid gunmen. In the Garnerville estate in east Belfast, UVF men supervised the forced evictions of families said to be linked to the LVF.

One of the murdered men, Craig McCausland, 20, was shot dead after three men burst into the house he shared with his partner and her children, aged six and nine. His family have launched a campaign for justice, saying he was not a member of any paramilitary group.

The IMC recorded six shooting incidents, 18 explosives or petrol bomb incidents and a car ramming related to the feud. The LVF attempted two murders but most of the violence was carried out by the UVF, which had also assassinated a perceived rival in May 2004.

The four-man watchdog, which includes ex-CIA chief Dick Kerr, described the latest feud as "bloodthirsty thuggery".

"A number of explanations have been offered to us: the history of rivalry and hatred, personal animosity, the LVF's involvement in drugs, allegations and counter-allegations about treachery, criminal competition, greed and power," the report said. It concluded that the UVF had simply decided "now is the right time to finish off the LVF".

The IMC said the UVF's political representatives in the Progressive Unionist party had lost control over the paramilitaries and recommended renewing financial sanctions on the party.

After loyalist paramilitaries opened fire on police during rioting in Belfast, the Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Hain, announced last week that the government no longer recognised the UVF's 1994 ceasefire.